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Yale School of Management Auction Raises Record Funds for Summer Internships

May 11, 2010 | Comments Off

The annual Internship Fund Auction at the Yale School of Management (SOM) beat fundraising records from all previous years, raising $51,433 to help students afford low paying or unpaid summer internships in the nonprofit and public sectors, the school reported this week.

The auction, now in its 32nd year, is one of SOM’s signature events. Each year, organizers pick a theme and students come in costume. This year’s theme was “There’s No Place Like SOM,” a play on the Wizard of Oz. The 2002 auction had been the record-holder until this year, raising $50,050 for the Internship Fund.

The fund, which subsidizes students who pursue unpaid or underpaid summer internships in the nonprofit and public sectors or with social enterprises, was the first of its kind among business schools and has been widely emulated by other schools. This year, the SOM fund will be able to support 40 students.

For the first time this year, the silent auction was held online so that alumni and the family of students could participate. “The auction really brought out our whole community in support of SOM’s unique commitment to training leaders for business and society,” Suzanne Appel ’11, an Internship Fund co-chair, said in a statement. “Our committee and the school were outrageously supportive of the auction at the end of the year when it would have been easier to disengage.”

Hot items in this year’s auction included a chance to rent a loft for the summer in New York, travel and accommodations for two to the Sundance Film Festival, dinner for seven at the Gramercy Tavern, hosted by the owner, and drinks at Mory’s with professors Doug Rae and Constance Bagley, Dean Sharon Oster, and the Yale mascot, Handsome Dan.

To learn more about the Yale SOM Internship Fund, click here.

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